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Remaining Moves To Be Made - How To Possibly Contend

First off, Happy New Years my fellow Mets fan bredrin. Looking forward to another year of New York Mets baseball.

Now that the key offseason moves have been made in resigning Wright and trading Dickey for d'Aurnaud and Syndergaard, what other (realistic) moves do you think Sandy & Co. should make to make this team a winner? And when I say winner, I do not mean WS Champions, but a winning product out on the field that is cost efficient. Not a 70 win team. I tried my best finding a mock offseason thread or Free Agent thread but couldn't seem to find it. And if there is, I'm sure its pretty outdated.

First off, Happy New Years my fellow Mets fan bredrin. Looking forward to another year of New York Mets baseball.

Now that the key offseason moves have been made in resigning Wright and trading Dickey for d'Aurnaud and Syndergaard, what other (realistic) moves do you think Sandy & Co. should make to make this team a winner? And when I say winner, I do not mean WS Champions, but a winning product out on the field that is cost efficient. Not a 70 win team. I tried my best finding a mock offseason thread or Free Agent thread but couldn't seem to find it. And if there is, I'm sure its pretty outdated.

I'm pretty sure you won't get Hairston for 2/$5M, and I don't think we're going to pursue Alvarez, since I think 6Y/$24M is way low after what Chapman, Cespedes and Puig got, not to mention Soler's 9 year deal. So here's my plan for the rest of the off season.

Sign Scott Hairston (2Y/$8M - $3.5 in 2013)
Trade for A.J. Pollock (pre-arb)
Sign Grady Sizemore (1Y/$1.5M with a 2014 option) ready to play in July, when we trade Hairston.
Sign Nyjer Morgan to a minor league contract with an invite to ST.
Sign Shaun Marcum (1Y/$5M) or Joe Saunders or Chris Young
Sign Dallas Braden (1Y/$800K) ready mid season, as insurance.
Sign Matt Lindstrom (1Y/$3.5M)
Sign Peter Moylen and Pedro Feliciano to minor league deals with invites to ST.

We're going to lose next season so I'd rather stink it up and get a high draft pick rather than barely hitting 80-82 wins while missing the playoffs. In case you all didn't notice, we are in a tough division, so unless we're winning 90 games easily, we're probably not getting anywhere.

It's all about 2014 and beyond. I just want this season to be about seeing what our young kids have, and also to give Ike Davis and Lucas Duda a chance to show what they have. To me, it's a make or break year with Duda.

We're going to lose next season so I'd rather stink it up and get a high draft pick rather than barely hitting 80-82 wins while missing the playoffs. In case you all didn't notice, we are in a tough division, so unless we're winning 90 games easily, we're probably not getting anywhere.

It's all about 2014 and beyond. I just want this season to be about seeing what our young kids have, and also to give Ike Davis and Lucas Duda a chance to show what they have. To me, it's a make or break year with Duda.

I'd be ecstatic if he won 80-82 games with the young squad we have. That would mean that a lot of young guys are making significant contributions, which would speed up the rebuilding process.

Sadly, that will not likely happen due to so many holes being unfilled so we will likely get a high pick.

I'm pretty sure you won't get Hairston for 2/$5M, and I don't think we're going to pursue Alvarez, since I think 6Y/$24M is way low after what Chapman, Cespedes and Puig got, not to mention Soler's 9 year deal. So here's my plan for the rest of the off season.

Sign Scott Hairston (2Y/$8M - $3.5 in 2013)
Trade for A.J. Pollock (pre-arb)
Sign Grady Sizemore (1Y/$1.5M with a 2014 option) ready to play in July, when we trade Hairston.
Sign Nyjer Morgan to a minor league contract with an invite to ST.
Sign Shaun Marcum (1Y/$5M) or Joe Saunders or Chris Young
Sign Dallas Braden (1Y/$800K) ready mid season, as insurance.
Sign Matt Lindstrom (1Y/$3.5M)
Sign Peter Moylen and Pedro Feliciano to minor league deals with invites to ST.

You make it sound so easy to trade for Pollack. Chances are if we got Pollack, ARI might want someone like Murphy or Gee, then that leaves another hole. Otherwise what would you think they would trade him for?

Also, you think Marcum is gonna take $5mil for 1 yr on a ****** team? Marcum has been very good and underrated for several years now, and with this ridiculous money SP's are getting, he won't be settling for 1 yr/5 mil.

You make it sound so easy to trade for Pollack. Chances are if we got Pollack, ARI might want someone like Murphy or Gee, then that leaves another hole. Otherwise what would you think they would trade him for?

Also, you think Marcum is gonna take $5mil for 1 yr on a ****** team? Marcum has been very good and underrated for several years now, and with this ridiculous money SP's are getting, he won't be settling for 1 yr/5 mil.

I don't think any trade is easy. I'd go after Pollock or Parra since the D-Backs have more outfielders than they can use now that they have signed Ross. They're pretty well stocked at the major league level. Their #5 SP is better than Gee, so I'm not sure that they'd ask for him, and they have depth at 3B so where would Murphy play? We'd need to see what prospects they might ask for in return, and go from there. Maybe Familia and Tapia would do it. Might have to add a lower level prospect. If I struck out with Arizona, though, there are several other good young outfielders I could target. Bottom line is I would try like hell to bring in a fleet footed center fielder who could lead off for us.

Marcum lost 2 months this past season due to elbow problems. He has some injury issues in his past, which tends to pose a red flag for some suitors. He hasn't signed yet, and as it gets later and later in the off season, odd things tend to happen. So yes, I think it is possible to get Marcum for 1/$5M as spring training approaches. (Note: I said possible, not necessarily probable.) If I were unable to sign Marcum or Saunders, I wouldn't be unhappy with Young. One more year removed from surgery should result in even better performance than last year.